Reuters:

Raul Castro calls for harder work, fewer handouts

HAVANA – Cuban President Raul Castro called on Saturday for austerity measures including fewer subsidies for workers and stricter management to pull the country out of an economic morass aggravated this year by three hurricanes and the global financial crisis.

He told a year-end meeting of the National Assembly the government would cut official trips abroad by 50 percent and eliminate programs that reward good workers with free vacation trips but cost the government $60 million a year.

“The accounts don’t square up,” he said. “You have to act with realism and adjust the dreams to the true possibilities,” said Castro, who officially replaced his ailing older brother Fidel Castro as president in February.

“Two plus two always equals four, never five,” he said.